Everyone’s got a price! Admit it. If Google offered you a certain dollar (or pound or euro or peso or whatever) amount to install a program that would track your Web surfing habits and other personal Internet traffic data to make it available to various advertisers, you’d do it. Some of us would sell out for far less than others, but even the most principled among us would cave if the right numbers were waved in front of us.

Obviously, we give a lot of information to Google and other online services for free every time we browse the Internet as it is. But Google is raising concerns among privacy advocates (such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation) as it plans on updating — or “streamlining” — its privacy policies by March 1st. These new policies, such advocates argue, are in violation of terms Google once reached with the FCC. The changes would take more control of devulged information out of the hands of users and more easily available to advertisers.

And nobody (certainly not Google) is offering you any cold, hard cash for the privilege. How does that make you feel?

Joe Pirillo (the guy who people keep saying looks like me, but in all fairness, I look like him) talked a bit about politics with the Gnomies; if you’d like to find out what becoming a registered Gnomie entails, check out Gnomies.com for more info.

Oh! We hit 250 Gnomies, so I’m off to play Minecraft with the community as promised. Here are some of the things on LockerGnome.com and in our live YouTube stream that we chatted about today.

How to Roll Back a Driver in Windows 7

Drivers are small bits of data used to tell the operating system how to properly communicate with a given piece of hardware. Windows 7 comes with a large library of built-in drivers that are frequently updated by Microsoft, though some companies provide individual drivers for their own devices. This is especially true with newer hardware that hasn’t been integrated into Windows via an update. USB webcams, gaming mice, specialized keyboards, and other devices that do more than just plug in and go may require custom drivers to operate properly on Windows. Rolling back drivers is something that no one enjoys having to do; in most cases, drivers are rolled back because an update either broke or altered the way a device functions that doesn’t improve the user’s experience. Here, we gently go over how to roll back a driver in Windows 7.

How to Determine Your ROI

We all know about rock n’ roll, but do you know how to rock your ROI? Determining your return on investment is important in any facet of life — whether pertaining to business or pleasure. Making sure that you’re not allocating too many of your resources — which could be anything from time to money — without some kind of payoff is worth monitoring. Here, we focus on how social media plays a part in calculating the value of what you get back from any endeavor — big or small.

How to Use Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) in Windows 7

Arguably one of the best features to be introduced in Windows 7 has been the Problem Steps Recorder (PSR). Windows 7 has been out for a while now, though it’s surprising just how few people know that this helpful application actually exists. Essentially, Problem Steps Recorder makes a visual and text-based documentation of everything that happens on your system while you’re recording. This documentation is contained in a .ZIP format (for easy transport) on a single MHTML file. This file can be opened by virtually anyone, and gives them all the information they need to see and/or replicate the problem. This includes any executables you handle, clicks you make, and versions of various applications you interact with during recording. Each step is catalogued with a high-resolution screen shot and accompanying text. If you’re still in the dark, here’s how to use the PSR.

Free Home Design Software

If you’re building a home, renovating your existing home, trying to better visualize your dream home, or you just like to tinker with the possibilities as an amateur architect, there are a few free home design software options out there. Here are three that we came across that might be of interest to you!

How to Engage Key Influencers

Lately we’ve been discussing ways that social media managers can help improve their social strategy, which has become a critical component of any marketing program. A recent study found that 82% of the world’s online population engages in social networking, and two in five use their smartphone to connect to social networks nearly every day. If your marketing campaign does not include a social component, you are missing the opportunity to reach a huge segment of potential customers and clients. One of the best ways to easily reach the most potential customers is by leveraging key influencers who become your business and product evangelists. But how do you begin? Here’s how to engage key influencers.